Stories of
American Heroes -
Brought to you from the "Home of Heroes" - Pueblo, Colorado

The

UnknownSoldier

Of World War I

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Belgium

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The Congress Column (Colonne des Congrés)
is the national monument of Belgium, located in the capitol city of
Brussels. The tall spire was erected in 1859 as a symbol of Belgian
independence and in tribute to the congress which drew up the Belgian
constitution in 1830. At its peak is the statue of King Leopold I of
Saxonia-Cobourg-Gotha, who became the first king on July 21, 1831.

At the foot of the column, which rises
above all other nearby structures, are four allegoric statues to represent the
four freedoms of Belgium:

Freedom of the Press

Freedom of Religion

Freedom of Education

Freedom of Association

Between them lies Belgium's Tomb of the
Unknown Soldiers (from both world war), their memory kindled by an eternal
flame and their final resting place adorned with flowers.

On November 11, 1922 (two years after the
Unknown Soldiers of Great Britain and France were interred and one year after
the burial of the American Unknown), the Unknown Belgium Soldier was
laid to rest in similar circumstance and ceremony as had been his predecessors
from World War I.

In preparation for the ceremony, five
unidentified Belgian soldiers who had been killed in World War I were exhumed
to lie in state at the railway station of Bruges. The five were selected
from the five largest battlefields of World War I: Liége, Namur, Antwerp,
Flanders, and the Yser.

On November 10, 1922 Raymond Haesebrouch,
a crippled veteran from Bruges viewed the five coffins. General de
Longueville asked him to choose one, and he selected the fourth to represent
all of the unknown Belgian veterans who gave their lives during World War I.

The following day, the fourth anniversary
of the armistice that concluded the war to end all wars, eight
one-armed Belgium veterans accompanied the flag-draped casket as it was
carried to the Colonne des Congrés. There the Unknown Soldier was laid
to rest in a vault at the front/base of the column.

The President of the
United States
in the name of The Congress
takes pleasure in presenting the
Medal of Honor to

The Unknown
Soldier of Belgium
World War I

By virtue of the
authority vested in the President of the United States, The
Congressional Medal of Honor, emblem of the highest military
ideals and virtues, is bestowed in the name of the Congress of the
United States upon the unknown, unidentified Belgian soldier in a
desire to add all that is possible to the imperishable glory won
by the soldiers during the World War, and to commemorate with them
the deeds of the nations associated with the United States of
America, by paying this tribute to their unknown dead.

(A.G. 220.523)
War Department General Orders, No. 52
1 December 1922, Sec. I

Here rests an
Unknown Soldier
Who Died for His Country
1914 - 1945

The inscription on the memorial
tablet at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Brussels is written in both
Dutch and French. At the close of the Second World War another
tablet was added saying:

To Our War Heroes 1940 - 1945

On April 7, 1998 His Royal Highness
Prince Filip inaugurated a third plaque at the Tomb with the
inscription: